The Skinny: Isles 4, Philadelphia 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 80

Isles 4, Philadelphia 0

Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves for his NHL-leading sixth shutout and the Isles got goals from four players, including defensemen Scott Mayfield and Samuel Bolduc as the Islanders blanked the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.  

Noah Dobson, Bo Horvat and Simon Holmstrom each added two assists as the Isles won their second straight game to maintain their grip on the second wild card spot. 

The Isles improve to 41-30-9 and remain tied in points with Florida for the two wild cards, with Pittsburgh just one point behind. The Isles have one fewer regulation win than Florida and are currently the second Wild Card; all three teams have just two games to play.  Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot drops to 3 (over Pittsburgh). The Isles will visit Washington on Monday before concluding the regular season by hosting Montreal on Wednesday.

The Scoring:

1st Period

Scott Mayfield (6) Simon Holmstrom (2), Bo Horvat (30) 14:19 PHI 0,NYI 1

2nd Period

Brock Nelson (34) Noah Dobson (32)  07:50 PHI 0,NYI 2

Samuel Bolduc (2) Bo Horvat (31), Simon Holmstrom (3)  05:06 PHI 0,NYI 3

3rd Period

Hudson Fasching (8) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (26), Noah Dobson (33) 18:21 PHI 0,NYI 4

The Skinny    

The Isles are 18-8-4 in their last 30 games and 12-4-0 in their last sixteen home games; they are 11 games over NHL-.500 for the second time this season…. The Isles have outscored the opposition 33-11 over the last 23 third periods  … The Isles' third period differential improves to +21; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games, -17 over the next 34 games but are +22 the last 23 games  Brock Nelson's goal was his 239th, tying Anders Lee for 8th place on the club's all-time list and dropping Bob Bourne (238) to 10th all-time. …  Ilya Sorokin is the first Islander to win 30 games since Jaroslav Halak won a club-record 38 in 2014-15; no other goalie in club history has won more than 32 – a mark Sorokin could tie if he were to win the last two games of the season…..Sorokin also became the first Isles goalie to appear in 60 games since Rick DiPietro, who did so in three consecutive seasons (2005-06 to 2007-08); those are three of the six prior 60-game seasons in club history…Sorokin, who now leads the NHL in shutouts with 6, has not allowed a goal in 83:13 and allowed only one goal on the two-game homestand...Sorokin moved into a tie for 3rd place on the Isles' career shutout list with Rick DiPietro (16) as he became the first goaltender in club history with multiple seasons of at least six shutouts (seven last season)…Sorokin is 8-2-1 in his career against Philadelphia (1.60, .944); he has the best goals-against average of any goalie that has faced the Flyers at least five times…Sorokin lowered his all-time home goals against average to 2.01 (best of any active goalie); his .931 home save percentage is also the best of any active goalie…It is the second time this season that the Isles have won consecutive games by at least four goals…Simon Holmstrom, who had only one assist in his NHL career entering play, had two assists tonight...Jean-Gabriel Pageau's late assist extended his career-best total to 26; Pageau also has a three-game point streak.

The Injury

Casey Cizikas played only one shift after blocking a shot on a Flyer power play midway through the third period.

First Time in a Long Time

Brock Nelson is the first Islander with at least 73 points in a season since 2017-18, when Mathew Barzal had 85 and John Tavares had 84.

 

The Wild Card Race

1.     Florida 91 points (36 RWs/40 ROWs/42 Ws) in 80 games (Monday vs. Toronto)

2. Isles 91 points (35 regulation wins, 40 ROWs, 41 Ws) in 80 games (Monday at Washington)

3. Pittsburgh 90 points (31 RWs,39 ROWs, 40 Ws) in 80 games (Tuesday vs. Chicago)

4. Buffalo 85 points (29 RWs, 37 ROWs, 39 Ws) in 78 games (Monday at Rangers)

The Isles have clinched the RW tiebreaker against both Pittsburgh and Buffalo.

Remaining Schedule

Isles: Monday at WAS, Wednesday vs MTL  (1H/1R; zero in playoffs, two out)

Florida: Monday vs TOR, Thursday vs CAR (2H/0R; two in, zero out)

Pittsburgh: Tuesday vs. CHI, Thursday @ CBJ (1H/1R; zero in, two out)

Buffalo: Monday @NYR, Tuesday @NJD, Thursday vs OTT, Friday @CBJ (1H/3R; two in, two out)

Maximum Points/RWs

• Florida 95/38

• Isles 95/37

• Pittsburgh 94/33

• Buffalo 93/33

The Islander magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now 3.  If the Isles go 1-0-1 in the remaining two games, they are guaranteed a playoff spot.  Their magic number against Buffalo is 2; they could guarantee a finish ahead of Buffalo as early as Monday with a win vs. Washington, a Sabre regulation loss, or OT/SO losses for both teams.

The Isles have clinched at least 10th place in the East, as CBJ, MTL,PHI, WAS, DET and OTT cannot catch the Isles.  They will clinch a playoff spot by guaranteeing a finish above eight other Eastern Conference teams, and they will clinch the top wild card if they guarantee themselves a finish above nine other teams.

Heavy Hitters

Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are now 1-2 all-time in hits:

1. Cal Clutterbuck 3,749

2. Matt Martin 3,699

Martin did not have a hit in this game, giving him 291 for the season.  He needs nine to record his sixth 300 hit season (5th for the Isles). Martin (7) and Clutterbuck (3) have combined for the 10-biggest hits seasons in Isles history in the Real-Time era, which began in 2005-06. 

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  41-30-9 for 91 points in 80 games

• 2021-22  36-34-10 for 82 points in 80 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  2-2-4

• Season: 41-125-166

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 41 goals, which is the most since they scored 42 in 2003-04.  The 166 points are their most since 2017-18 (171).

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 16 shutouts in 128 career starts. He has recorded a shutout in 12.5% of his starts, which is tied for the second-highest in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 12.5%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise has scored 429 career goals, good for ninth among actives. He has tied Bill Guerin for 81st place; Joe Thornton and Alex Kovalev are next with 430 goals. 

Active NHLers:  8th-11th in goals

8. Jeff Carter 431

9. Zach Parise 429

10. Patrice Bergeron 427

11. John Tavares 426

Home and Road

The Isles are 41-30-9 overall; they are 24-13-3 at home and 17-17-6 on the road.

Philadelphia is 29-37-13 overall; they are 17-17-5 at home and 12-20-8 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 25-17-6 against the East (16-7-2 vs. Metropolitan and 9-10-4 vs. Atlantic) and 16-13-3 against the West (6-7-3 vs. Central and 10-6-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 81 games at UBS Arena and recorded 59 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,530

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,404

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 26-11-5 when scoring first and are 15-19-3 when allowing the opening goal; they are 0-0-1 when a shootout produces the game's only goal.  

The Shots

Isles            8-10-3=21

Philadelphia 15-4-8=27

The Isles are 23-11-4 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 18-19-5 when they are out-shot.

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves; he is 30-21-7 on the season and 8-2-1 vs. Philadelphia.   

Carter Hart made 15 saves over the first two periods; he is 21-23-10 on the season and 4-5-3 vs. the Isles. Felix Sandstrom made two saves in the third period.

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-2 on the power play (4:00); Philadelphia was 0-2 on the power play (4:00).

The Isles are 16-10-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 25-20-5 when they do not. The Isles are 15-13-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 26-16-6 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 34-6-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 7-24-5 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 15-6-9 in games decided by a single goal including 9-6 in regulation. They are 5-4 in games decided in overtime and are 1-5 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-8 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs     

The Isles were 7-7-1 in the front end and 8-5-2 in the back end this season.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Ryan Pulock (24:08);  Philadelphia: Ivan Provorov (23:00)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau led Isles forwards with 17:41 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-2-1), Noah Dobson (4-12-2), Adam Pelech (12-4-0), Ryan Pulock (8-5-1), Scott Mayfield (7-2-4), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Bo Horvat (4-2-1), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 31, Philadelphia16 (66%)

Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 9 of 13 for the Isles; No Flyer won more than he lost. 

Hit Count

Isles 17 (Cal Clutterbuck -4)

Philadelphia 19 (Rasmus Ristolainen- 4)

Fights 

None. Season total: 17 (Martin-7, Johnston-3, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Cizikas, Romanov, Mayfield)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 15 (Samuel Bolduc -3)

Philadelphia 20 (Nick Seeler -4)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 55, Philadelphia 58

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 49, Philadelphia 51

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Adam Pelech +26

Philadelphia: Corey Perry +6

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 6, Philadelphia 11

5-on-5: Isles 5, Philadelphia 9

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Mathew Barzal-INJ), Parker Wotherspoon, Ross Johnston, (Alexander Romanov- INJ), Josh Bailey

Games Lost: 206

The Ironmen

Zach Parise played in his 162nd consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. Overall, his streak is 163 games, making it the 15th-longest active streak in the NHL.  Anders Lee extended his streak to 110 games. (Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson are the other Islanders to appear in every game this season.)

Challenges

Isles: 2 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3, CBJ goalie interference 3/24

Opponents: 2 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27, VAN goalie interference 2/9

League reviews: 8 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – awarded); MTL goal (Matheson) 2/11-stood; Isles goal – Fasching vs BUF 3/7 -awarded; NJD no goal 3/27-stood.; Isles goal-Parise vs PHI 4/8-overturned.

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute seven times this season (six times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

• 0:49 4/7 vs TBL (Nelson and Palmieri)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win four times this season and have allowed the opposition to do so once.

For (4): Trailed 3-1, Won 5-3 vs. COL 10/29

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) vs CGY 11/7

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 at NYR 11/8

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) at PIT 3/9

Vs (1):  Led 4-2, Lost 6-5 vs VAN 2/9

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored four goals and have allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(4): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Zach Parise Vs PIT 2/17 (17:17; GW)

Anders Lee @ PIT 3/9 (18:45; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (5): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Mathew Barzal vs VEG 1/28 (4:28)

Brock Nelson @ PIT 3/9 (2:13)

Vs. (4): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Mike Matheson @ MTL 2/11 (4:38)

Boone Jenner @ CBJ 3/24 (0:40

Shootout Winners

For (1): Kyle Palmieri @ WAS 3/29

Vs (5):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

Tim Stutzle Vs OTT 2/14

Frederick Gaudreau @MIN 2/28

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,056…

6. Bob Bourne 814 *** 7. Matt Martin 764 *** 8.Brock Nelson 756 *** 9. Mike Bossy 752 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 743…

12. Brent Sutter 694 *** 13. Anders Lee 676 *** 14. John Tavares 669 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Cal Clutterbuck 634

Goals    

1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …

7. John Tavares 272 *** 8. Anders Lee and Brock Nelson 239 *** 10. Bob Bourne 238 *** 11. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris and Josh Bailey 184…

28. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 29 Mathew Barzal, Benoit Hogue, and Ed Westfall 105

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 396…

13. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 14. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 15. Billy Harris 259 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 257 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 221…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Anders Lee 176

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 580  …

13. Patrick Flatley 488 *** 14. Brock Nelson 460 *** 15. Billy Harris 443 ***  16. Anders Lee 415 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 362

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Adam Pelech +80 ***  17. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 18. Garry Howatt +75 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Ryan Pulock +56 *** 24. Greg Gilbert 54 

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik and Ryan Pulock 43 *** 9. Mark Streit 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Noah Dobson 30

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 129…

15. Bryan Berard 100 *** 16. Vladimir Malakhov and Adam Pelech 98…  

21. Ken Morrow and Noah Dobson 88 *** 23. Bert Marshall 87 ***24. Radek Martinek 85 *** 25. Scott Mayfield 84

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 172…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Adam Pelech 123 *** 19. Noah Dobson 118 *** 20. Thomas Hickey 117*** 21. Adrian Aucoin 113 *** 22. Scott Mayfield 110

Goalie Games

1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282 …

9. Roland Melanson 136 *** 10 Semyon Varlamov 135 *** 11. Ilya Sorokin 134

Wins

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…

7. Roland Melanson 77 *** 8. Ilya Sorokin 69 *** 9. Glenn Healy 66 *** 10. Tommy Salo 62 *** 11. Semyon Varlamov 59

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro and Ilya Sorokin 16 *** 

5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov 13 

On the Farm

Bridgeport dropped games on Friday in Hartford and Saturday vs. Wilkes Barre-Scranton to eliminate the Islanders from post-season consideration. Bridgeport is 32-29-7-1 on the season with three games to play in their regular season. 

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is 2nd in the AHL) with 34 goals, while Chris Terry continues to lead in assists (45) and points (68); his 68 points are 6th in the AHL with his 45 assists are tied-5th. William Dufour has 21 goals, which is 12th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Iskhakov is 2nd among AHL rookies with 33 assists and is 3rd among all rookies with 50 points.

Bridgeport hosts Lehigh Valley on Wednesday. 

Season Series Stats

The Isles win the season series, 3 games to 1 (and 6 points to 2).  

The Isles are 4-0-0 against the Flyers at UBS and have won seven straight home games against the Flyers outscoring Philly 29-11 (including two shootout winning goals).

UP NEXT

MONDAY, APRIL10th  -  ISLANDERS AT WASHINGTON 7:00pm

[MSGSN (Pre-game at 6:30), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Isles will look for their second win in less than two weeks in our nation's capital as the Isles conclude the road part of the schedule in DC against Washington. 

Each team has an extra time win this season; Dimitri Orlov (now with Boston) scored in overtime at UBS in January, while the Isles earned a shootout win at Capital One Arena on March 29th.

The Isles have earned points in five of their last six trips to Washington (3-1-2); they need at least a point to continue to control their own destiny for a playoff berth. 

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick